


One Step At A Time

by RedStarfish



Category: Batman - All Media Types, Red Hood and the Outlaws (Comics), Red Robin (Comics)
Genre: Awkwardness, Brotherly Bonding, Dysfunctional Family, Family Fluff, Gen, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-23
Updated: 2020-12-23
Packaged: 2021-03-10 19:08:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,966
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28262154
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RedStarfish/pseuds/RedStarfish
Summary: Jason goes home for Christmas. It is extremely awkward.
Relationships: Batfamily Members & Jason Todd, Jason Todd & Family, Tim Drake & Jason Todd
Comments: 6
Kudos: 123





	One Step At A Time

**Author's Note:**

> Happy New Year

Jason stared at the gilded gold gate in front of him. The house was out of sight. Which was probably the only reason he hadn’t run away by now.

He took a deep breath.

Then another.

“Are you planning on standing there all day, Master Jason,” the intercom crackled to life. Alfred.

“Oh er, I was just-”

“Say no more. Take as much time as you need.”

The gate buzzed as it slowly swung open. Jason gritted his teeth.

As much time as he needed. Yes, of course. Even though Alfred knew full well that the gate would swing close after a few seconds.

So Jason could either walk through the gates. Or he’d be making Alfred continually push the button to open the gate while he stood there indecisively.

Why was his entire family so manipulative?

Why did he find it helpful? This can’t be healthy.

“Right...er, right...” Jason said and slipped through the gate as it slowly swung close again.

Now the long walk down the driveway.

Why did he take a taxi again?

 _Oh gosh, I can’t do this_.

Jason spun around, mind already running through different ways he could climb the fence without setting off the security alarm.

There was someone on the other side of the gate. On a bike.

“Jason?”

A visor flipped upwards. Jason tried not to meet the eyes of his elder brother, tried not to notice Dick frowning at him in concern amidst the insides of a bike helmet.

“Er, hi.”

“I didn’t think you’d make it. Bruce said his invitation got sent back with a ‘not found at this address’.”

Bruce sent an invitation?

Jason didn’t think he’d have bothered.

“Oh well, you know, I was...in the area...”

The gate buzzed again, and Dick glided his bike through.

“Right well, need a lift?”

“It’s not that far.”

Dick glanced down the tree lined driveway. The house was still not visible from here. He looked back at Jason, a mix of concern on his features.

“Right, alright, yeah. Lift sounds good.”

Jason straddles the bike before Dick could get off to give him a spare helmet. They were in a private driveway. The drive would take three minutes tops.

It was a very long three minutes.

The garage door rose up silently as they approached. Dick parked his bike in his usual spot. Jason jumped off before he could remember all the times he used to wait in the garage whenever Dick said he’d visit.

He was immediately faced with a dilemma.

Running into the house would mean he didn’t have to handle any awkward small talk with Dick as they walked in together.

Running into the house would mean he had to see the others.

It wouldn’t even be all of them. The girls were spending the holidays in Hong Kong. Duke was with his family.

It shouldn’t even be that big of a deal.

Damn it, he should have taken Artemis’ offer to visit Themyscira.

“You coming?” Dick was by the door already. He’d stripped free of his bike gear and had a duffle bag slung over one shoulder.

“Yeah-” Jason cut himself off, hurrying to follow Dick into the house so Dick wouldn’t have to keep holding it open for him.

This was so awkward.

“Grayson. You’re here.” Damian Wayne dropped down from whatever nook in the ceiling he had been hiding in.

“Hey little D,” Dick said, attempting to ruffle Damian’s hair. Which Damian deflected by stepping in for a hug.

Jason stood there awkwardly. His own rucksack’s straps felt heavy on his shoulders.

“I see you’ve brought the hoodlum.”

“Damian.” Dick admonished.

“Yeah, great to see you too, bat brat.” Jason took this opportunity to walk past them. Knowing Damian, he’ll want more time with Dick. Damian always wanted more time with Dick.

“Master Jason, I’m glad you made it down the driveway without any further delays,” Alfred said, tone dry as a dessert.

Jason forgot how sardonic Alfred could be.

“Hi Alfie, Merry Christmas,” he said, giving the old man a hug.

Alfred hugged back, tight. Patting him on the shoulder as they let go. “I am so happy you are here, my boy.”

Jason didn’t really know how to respond to that. He couldn’t quite say he was happy to be here. But he was definitely happy to be here with Alfred.

A pinprick sensation at the back of his neck. Jason looked up at the stairs. Nothing.

Probably Tim. The last time they saw each other had been...

Well, the less said about that the better.

Jason was about to follow Alfred to the kitchen when the door to Bruce’s study opened.

He froze.

Bruce froze.

They stared at each other for a beat.

“Jason,” Bruce is the one who breaks the tense awkward standoff. “What are you doing here?”

Immediately, Jason felt his hackles rise. _Of course Bruce wouldn’t want you here_ , his mind supplied. _Of course he didn’t really send an invite._

He swallowed and did his best to let the anger pass unobstructed.

“Oh you know, just, Christmas. This pagan holiday that got hijacked by this world famous religion known as Christianity. Tradition states to spend it with friends or family,” Jason tried to say as casually as he could, shrugging a shoulder and looking away.

He probably wasn’t as casual as he wanted to be.

“I thought you sent him an invite,” Tim said from behind him.

Jason worked really hard not to turn around. From the sound of his voice, Tim was still on the stairs. Jason didn’t want to turn around just to watch Tim bolt back up the stairs.

 _That’s not going to happen, idiot_.

“It got sent back,” Bruce replied to Tim. Bruce was definitely avoiding Jason’s eyes. That was fine by Jason. “Not known at this address.”

Tim was still standing on the stairs. Jason should probably move so Tim could walk down the rest of the way. But walking towards the kitchen and adjoining dining room would require walking past Bruce.

Jason didn’t want to walk past Bruce.

“Why are we all just standing in the hallway?” Dick asked. Damian made one of his annoyed clicking noises.

“It’s the new trend,” Jason said on automatic, his tone shifting towards the one he would use when trying to tell a joke without him consciously thinking of it.

Not that what he’s saying is particularly funny. Jason’s recognised this as one of his defense mechanisms a long time ago.

He didn’t expect Tim to jump on it.

“Yeah, standing awkwardly in the hallway is how all families greet each other these days,” Tim said, having not moved an inch from where he was.

Dick narrowed his eyes at all of them.

Surprisingly, Bruce is the first to falter. He opened his mouth to speak, then seemed to think better of it and instead haltingly cleared his throat.

Then he fled into the kitchen.

Jason followed his lead and he could hear Tim greeting Dick behind him.

_One step at a time, Jason. One step at a time._

\---

Dinner was awkward.

Dinner was beyond awkward.

No, awkward didn’t even begin to cut it. It was pure disaster.

Jason would have snapped by now, if it weren’t for the fact that Tim had purposely not glanced in his direction since sitting down.

This was the only reason he wasn’t cursing Damian down for...for being Damian, he supposed.

Bruce was pinching the bridge of his nose, the way he did when he was stressed. Dick was physically restraining Damian from stabbing Tim with his steak knife.

Tim’s been shaking for ten minutes already.

Even Alfred was sighing in disappointment.

They were such a fucked up family.

Finally, Bruce was the one who snapped. “ENOUGH!” he roared.

Damian stopped brandishing his steak knife.

Dick got back into his own seat.

Tim…

Tim was still shaking.

Jason stared down into his mashed potatoes and swallowed down bile.

\---

Patrol was quiet.

It was only the 23rd. Their family had taken to having their Christmas dinner early, because it was almost 100% guaranteed that something would happen on the 24th. A vast emergency of some sort that generally lasted until Boxing Day. If not until the New Year.

Jason hoped it wasn’t a mass Arkham Breakout like last year.

A glimpse of red out of the corner of his eyes.

Jason paused.

He turned, but he couldn’t see anything else move.

He sighed.

“Pretty sure your patrol route is on the other side of the city,” Jason said.

“Nightwing and I swapped routes,” Tim replied. He was sitting behind a vent, and for a weird moment Jason thought the vent had replied. A vent was certainly easier to talk to than Red Robin.

Maybe that was why Tim was sitting there.

Jason hesitated. He should probably go. Tim probably wanted to be left alone.

“Are you okay?” he asked instead. Because everybody knew Jason had no self-preservation instincts.

Silence.

No, not silence, that was definitely a sniffle.

Jason sighed. He walked closer.

Tim was sitting behind the vent, his hood was up, his knees were tucked close to his body, if Jason didn’t know better, he’d have thought Tim was nothing more than a pile of black cloth.

“Everybody hates me,” Tim murmured.

Jason was not equipped for this.

“Nobody hates you, Replacement.”

Tim winced.

Jason wanted to slap himself. Only an idiot would end a reassurance with an insult.

He was _really_ not equipped for this.

“I’m calling Nightwing.”

“No!”

Jason paused. Since when did Tim not want to talk to Dick? Everyone wanted to talk to Dick.

“We had...” an awkward shuffle “...a spat.”

“A spat.”

“Yeah. A spat.”

Did Dick even have spats? Was he capable of having spats? Wasn’t Golden boy everybody’s favourite?

Apparently not.

“Well who do you want instead?”

“No one.”

Jason didn’t know whether that was a dismissal or not. He stood there awkwardly. If anyone was spying from any of the other rooftops, they’d probably be wondering why Red Hood’s been staring at a vent for the last ten minutes.

“Stay?” Tim asked, timid.

Jason wasn’t expecting that.

“Red, I tried to kill you.”

Multiple times, they both knew. But the time Jason was referring to happened just this week. The other times were taboo topics. They didn’t talk about the other times.

“That wasn’t your fault,” Tim said.

“I’m pretty sure it was at least a little my fault.”

“Less your fault than the other times.”

Right, Tim was going to talk about the other times apparently.

“Sorry,” Tim said after a moment of more awkward silence.

“Why? It’s true.”

More silence. Jason was really really not equipped to deal with this.

“Look, if you’re going to sulk, there are better views than by this vent.”

“I still got to patrol.”

“You’re not patrolling anything by sitting there.”

“...”

Jason sighed but sat down.

Tim shuffled closer.

Jason let him.

They sat like that for a long time, leaning against a random vent in the middle of Gotham, listening to sirens echo here and there.

“It really wasn’t your fault,” Tim said. “What happened on Saturday. I don’t blame you.”

“And the other times?”

A pause.

“Those were a bit more your fault.”

Jason laughed.

“But I still don’t blame you.”

Jason glanced down at Tim. Tim wasn’t looking at him. Tim was poking at a crack in the concrete with a birdarang.

“Thanks.”

Tim softly bumped his shoulder.

Jason bumped back.

Jason didn’t feel any less guilty. But he did feel less...irredeemable.

Hope seemed more within his grasp than before. A promise of better days to come.

“Things will get better.”

“Yeah.” Tim agreed.

They just had to take it one step at a time.


End file.
